About

HISTORY

Latinx Games Festival 2023

Latinx Games Festival is the definitive video game industry event for Latinx game development. We connect our community to the video game industry and plant the seeds for a richer, more mature video game industry that positively impacts the future of Latinx game development.

Latinx Games Festival covers a wide range of topics in our panels that are important to Latinx game development. We provide career advancement opportunities, showcase games curated throughout Latin America, and celebrate Latinx game developers with the Latinx Game Awards.

The 5th annual Latinx Games Festival will return this year on September 15 – 24, 2023! The event will be In person at Columbia Memorial Space Center, Downey, CA on September 23 & 24, 2023 and online on Steam and Twitch from September 15 – 24, 2023.

Latinx Games Festival 2022

The 4th annual Latinx Games Festival was an online-only event that took place on November 18 & 19, 2022.

Latinx Games Festival 2021

On November 20-21, 2021 The 3rd annual Latinx Games Festival was a 2 Day Event that took place Online from Long Beach, California. This event was planned as a virtual event that streamed on Twitch featuring 30 game developer interviews, 10 Official Game Selections, 30 Arcade Games, and a Steam Event featuring all 40 games. Our biggest event yet! We celebrated our 2nd Latinx Game Awards by honoring the industry brightest Latinx creatives with awards given out to the teams of Greak: Memories of Azur (Game of the Year + Excellence in Visual Art), 9 Years of Shadows (Excellence in Audio), UNSIGHTED (Excellence in Storytelling), and Aztech Forgotten Gods (Most Anticipated Game). The 3rd annual Latinx Games Festival was a success thanks to the support and sponsorship from video game industry titans like Niantic, Xbox, and Unity.

Special thanks to Kesu Gupta, Coraly Rosario, Trinidad Hermida, Samuel Villanueva, Paulette Zorilla Bautista, Jason Marino, Gabriella Sanchez, Patty Allen-Stott, Joveth Gonzalez, Luis Angel Mex, Fernando Zumbado, Annie Carnahan, Ed Palmer, and the amazing speakers, game developers, and sponsors for making the 3rd event a grand celebration of Latinx game development.

Latinx Games Festival 2020

On November 21-22, 2020 The 2nd Latinx Games Festival was a 2 Day Event that took place Online from Long Beach, California. This event was planned to take place in person at MOLAA, but due to the COVID19 global pandemic, we had to adapt our conference to a virtual online presentation. The event was featured on the front page of Steam featuring a virtual arcade and our panels streamed to both Twitch and Steam. The 2nd annual Latinx Games Festival was a success thanks to the support and sponsorship from video game industry titans like Niantic, Valve, and Play Date.

Special thanks to Kesu Gupta, Jasmine Aguilar, Juan Morales-Rocha, Jonathan Morales, Venisia Gonzalez, Benjamin Angel Wu, Paul Tamayo, Erin Ashley Simon, João “Shanzikull” Curto, Coraly Rosario, Trinidad Hermida, Arisa Sudangnoi Johnsey, Steven Frank, Dan Rosas Paulsen, Patricia Zavalza, Sharon Wang, The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), The Long Beach Public Library, and the amazing volunteers, speakers, game developers and sponsors for making the 2nd event a (virtual) reality during a global pandemic.

Latinx Games Festival 2019

On September 14th, 2019 at The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, CA the 1st Latinx Games Festival signaled an industry-wide call to action for Latinx representation throughout the video game industry. The 1st Latinx Games Festival was a success thanks to the support and sponsorship from video game industry titans like Niantic, Nintendo, Xbox, Amazon Games, Avalanche Studios and Unity.

Special thanks to Emperatriz Ung, Juan Vaca, Indie Games Mexico, Aquma, Laura Reyes, Dylan G. Cruz, Kesu Gupta, Benjamin Angel Wu, Christopher Deslandes, Juan Morales-Rocha, Venisia Gonzalez, Qweerty Gamers, CyberCode Twins, MOLAA event staff and security, BLKBX Creative Group and the amazing volunteers, speakers and sponsors for holding it down and making my wildest dreams come true. ~Jason Vega

TEAM

JASON VEGA

Founder & Executive Director

Jason Vega is a New York City-born and raised Puerto Rican entrepreneur currently residing in Long Beach, California. He is passionate about building strategies to cultivate healthy, reciprocal relationships focused on amplifying underrepresented diverse voices and fostering an inclusive environment in video games, entertainment, and STEM.

His love for accessible game development started in 2013, gaining industry event experience in event production, logistics, marketing, PR, curation, and brand ambassadorship for events like IndieCade, IndieCade East, Games For Change, and Different Games Conference. He was inspired to take that experience forward and co-organized the Game Devs of Color Expo in 2017 & 2018. As the founder and executive director of Latinx Games Festival, he aims to keep breaking new grounds and continue to make game development accessible for Latinx people around the world!

KESU GUPTA

Design Director

I am a Multidisciplinary Designer specializing in branding and visual identity, with a passion for building and managing new brands, overseeing all aspects of design from concept to execution. With a keen eye for detail, I craft unique brand identities, lead graphic design projects, and orchestrate effective venue styling for maximum impact.

Beyond my expertise in event design, I am also a contemporary artist. This fusion of creativity and expertise allows me to deliver exceptional visual solutions that push boundaries. By infusing my artistic sensibilities into my design approach, I bring a fresh and innovative perspective to every project.

Born in India, my early travels and experiences in various cities around the world shaped my artistic journey. In my early career I studied law in Mumbai and London, graduating in 2012. However, my creative passion persisted, leading me to New York City in 2014 to pursue Interior Architecture at Parsons School of Design. Shortly after graduation, I became very interested in helping emerging brands establish their digital presence.

Sponsors Over the years

Industry Sponsors